Long Hair
by StormyTitan7
Summary: Have you ever wondered why Leblanc likes Nooj? This certainly isn't the answer but it might explain a thing or two. Leblanc tells a story to some curious and prodding Goons about a boy she barely remembers, someone she met in Bevelle a long time ago when she was just a little girl. Implied LogosxLeblanc. Young Leblanc and Young Logos. Completed. R&R
1. Prologue: the Story Begins

**By StormyTitan**

**A/N: I had to make this! Enjoy the LogosxLeblanc if that's what you like (I know I do! 3) or you NoojxLeblanc fans can jiggy down with this too, (kinda, for a while, not for long :D)**

**WARNING: Inside, for a moment, is some goons I named and made personalities for. So O.C warning!  
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><p><strong>The O.C. Goons- *If you already know them, just skip to the story*<br>**

**Taji: (Goon) An Al Bhed teen who has an a major attitude problem. He is always stuck with the job of guarding the front door, and major hobbies include pissing off Logos and anything to do with Machines. He is Daji's several minute older twin brother. **

**Daji: (Goon) Taji's several minute younger twin brother. He is also a known homosexual, and prefers wearing girl clothes over boy's (However, his uniform doesn't allow him to change his outfits very often). He also happens to be one of Leblanc's close goon friends and the only male in that selective group. He takes fashion advice from Leblanc and in his free time dresses like a male counterpart to her. His short blonde hair is even styled like hers. He also is the only goon Leblanc trusts to guard her door.**

**Anomi: (She-Goon) Another Al Bhed (though a female). She wears goggles and has shoulder length blonde hair. She is often times teamed up with Ormi on missions and likes to think of herself in a higher position than just a She-goon, which she was recently demoted to after an incident on Gagazet when she suggested she and her partner take a hot spring bath instead of work. Due to her more laid back attitude, constant laziness, and numerous attempts to duck out of any form of hard work, she is not likely to get promoted again anytime soon.  
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**Mara: (Fem-Goon) A sweet woman, nineteen years old, whose main duties include talking and giving massages to Leblanc. She reminds most of the Syndicate of Yuna**** (of course, that only applies to the ones that had the pleasure of meeting her.). This is due to the fact that she ****sounds like her, and has similar mannerisms, however she doesn't look like her as she has dark brown, boy-short hair, and a long hanging rectangle earring. She was promoted from a She-goon to a Fem-goon by Leblanc herself, and was able to escape a demotion after her partner, Anomi (who often gets her into trouble anyways), convinced her to slack off with the incident on Gagazet.  
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**Nago: (Mr. Goon) A very handsome man who Daji, and most of the unnamed and young female Goon population, has a major crush on. His only flaw is that he's very by the book, if a book of rules for the Leblanc Syndicate existed, and follows orders to the exact letter. This may not seem like a flaw, but it often accidentally causes trouble as he takes things literally. Despite that, his readiness to follow commands often got him teamed up with Logos, who was often irritated with what he deemed pointless questions about his brisk commands. Nago also has a distinct weakness against girls, as he is too hesitant to actually physically hit them. He has blue eyes and brown hair of medium length, that flows against his face..**

**And now to the story...**

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><p>When did it start? Leblanc thought back to earlier events as she sat in the quiet of her room, her friends having just vacated it in the late hours to seek rest in their own beds. Leblanc's amber gaze was pointed upwards towards the many bolts of the cloth that swung decoratively from one spot to the other on her lovely ceiling. She did not have to wonder long, as she recalled the exact moment.<p>

She remembered it started when Daji, the goon who guarded her door. He simply asked her the question that 'girls' sometimes did. He was painting her toes at that moment and trying to find just the right color, and to pass the time, he mindlessly jabbered to all the girls. No one particular was listening; Anomi reading a magazine on Leblanc's couch, Mara rubbing was their beloved Boss's shoulders and humming contently, and Leblanc herself was getting her shoulders rubbed and toes painted, preoccupied with her own thoughts.

Then, it happened. Leblanc couldn't remember what he was talking about before, but it seemed like it transitioned smoothly into his words so that they finally became a conversation instead of talking to half-listening air. Daji lifted his head from her toes and asked in his somewhat squeaky voice-

"So, Boss, what's your type?"

The Goon was casual and innocent enough about it. Still, the question had Leblanc raise a brow and she stared at him over the two round curves of her knees.

"Why do you ask, love?"

He shrugged and replied easily, "Just wonderin', Boss."

"I'll tell you what _I _like," Anomi chuckled darkly behind her magazine, her uncovered green spiral eyes slowly rising over the edge to peer at her friends, "I like wild bad boys. You know, they're mean and tough, covered in tattoos, and they don't take crap from anyone. But secretly they're good cooks and nice to girls, and look adorable when they have bed-head or are covered in oil after messing with their machines-"

Mara's sweet voice followed her tilting head, "Have you ever met someone like that?"

"No," Anomi said rather sadly, "Why would I be single if I have? I tell you what, as soon as I meet a boy like that, he's not leaving my sight!"

"That sounds rather obsessive, don't you think?" Mara said rather hesitantly. Her comment said a lot of what she thought was obsessive, since she didn't even bat an eye at her Boss's behavior in her love life.

"Well, what would you do if you found the boy of your dreams?" Anomi shot back.

Mara lowered her shoulders and softly muttered, "Oh, I don't know..."

"What is the boy of your dreams, anyhow?" Daji piped and Mara blushed instantly, oddly flustered at this simple question and at the eyes that turned to look at her, waiting for her answer. Her hands rose to the sides of her face and she managed in a quivery voice.

"Uhm... I really don't know...strong...kind...and it wouldn't matter if he was handsome." Mara looked down to her knees and blushed harder, "But it wouldn't be a problem if he was either... He would be a good gentleman and-"

"That's all stereotypical…" Anomi cut in and quickly added with a humored voice, "Why don't you just say that the guy's rich and got a nice dic-"

"Uwa!" Mara gasped and looked over at the Al Bhed woman, shocked, "Anomi, don't say things like that!"

"It's on my list, if I could help it." Anomi smiled and puckered her full lips towards the boy that was carefully applying color to his superior's pinky toe, "And how about you Daji-baby?"

Daji flinched before nervously smiling down at his Boss's feet, "Well, I guess I like handsome, and-"

"***Koff***-Nago-***koff***" Anomi faked coughing and openly laughed at the now blushing teen stretched across the bedspread a little across the room from her. "I kid, I kid," She amended, and Daji relaxed, smiling a little.

Anomi finished her laugh and finally tossed the magazine aside, before devoting her full attention to the conversation that she sensed was going to turn interesting, since the only one that remained that had yet to be questioned was their dear Boss. She set her chin in her hands and waited with bright green eyes focused on the Lady Luck still sitting comfortably on the bed.

Daji didn't hesitate to include the Boss, his head tilting, "What about you Leblanc? What do you like in men?"

"Do you need to ask? Nooj-"Leblanc smiled and was cut off by Daji.

"Not _who_ do you like. _W__hat _do you like…" Daji sat up onto his knees and leaned forward expectantly, "What's something you just absolutely love to see on guys? You know...like, types?"

"Yeah!" Anomi said excitedly, leaping across the room and plopping roughly onto the bed onto her side. Leblanc looked up briefly, thinking it was good thing she had a crazily large bed. Anomi blinked, her chin back into her hand, and said through her broad smile, "I'm curious to know what you think is cute, Boss."

"Umm…" Leblanc leaned back and twitched her now drying toes, before she loosened her body. She seemed to resign herself to the fact that escape was not possible, and she had to tell them something. So she seriously thought about it, her throat humming thoughtfully,"Hmm…"

It was hard to think though. When it came to what she liked, all she had on her mind presently was the Meyvn.

To help, Mara leaned over, joining the expectantly smiling party, and prodded, "What do you like most about Nooj, besides his many feats and-" Mara paused to giggle softly, " 'Godly' smile."

"His long hair," Leblanc said without hesitation afterward, the answer coming to her like it fell from the sky. How come she hadn't thought of it before, it was so obvious.

The goons turned and looked curiously at each other. Something was not quite right. The Boss was talking about Nooj, but for some reason, the way she answered was not at all in the dreamy voice one would expect from her. They looked back at her and stared.

"Why's that?" Daji asked when the Boss did not realize she had said something odd, or rather, that way she had said it was.

Leblanc thought for a moment, weighing her options, before she pulled her legs to her body and looked from each of her friends' faces, her brows lifting in surprise, "You all really want to know?"

"Tell us, please?" Mara moved her hands in front of her body in an encouraging gesture, scooting around to sit more directly in front of Leblanc with the other two.

"It's a long story, Loves," Leblanc turned her head to the side, " I don't know if we've the time-"

"No one's going to bother us unless you tell them too, Leblanc," Anomi eagerly waited for her Boss to start explaining, the story sounding juicy somehow. The other goons appeared to have been as equally as excited, and Leblanc caved in with the amusing thought that she was like a kindergarten teacher gathering kids for storytime…

"Alright," Leblanc began her story slowly, her voice carrying lightly, "It was a long while back…when I was a little girl."

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><p><strong>Review? More chapters soon…<strong>


	2. Performance of Two Strange Strangers

**By Stormy Titan**

**I told you soon I'd post soon, didn't I? Hope you very **_**few **_**and very special L.O.L. fans enjoy this. And yes, I totally stole the name 'Rosette' for Leblanc from Devil Mushroom (I found that it suited her… and I was having a ridiculous amount of trouble coming up with a name for her…)**

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><p>"Don't go far, Rosette…" Her mother warned, slightly angled to face her but still trying to manage the task at hand, which was to help her father carry crates of their merchandise out of the back of the cart.<p>

"I won't," Young Leblanc drew out as she skipped away, hardly noticing her mother's warning. She was just so excited.

She had never been in Bevelle before. This was the first time she was allowed to go with her parents on their trips around Spira, spreading the word of their store and selling items that came from their home shop in Luca. They did that at least once a month, where one of them would go with their wares to different places all over Spira, and this one trip required them both. So, with the promise of extra-good behavior, Rosette was allowed to go. And there is no where else in all of Spira where she would've wanted to go other than the opulent Bevelle.

Bevelle was a glorious, prosperous, and breathtaking northern city that had filled her head with so many stories which she had collected like a sponge to water from the costumers of her family's shop. And now, shaking with excitement, she was there in the heart of the colorful and rich city.

She puckered her rosy lips and thoughtlessly blew a strand of long unkempt hair out of her light brown eyes with an unladylike sound. Smiling, she ran forward a little ways, her eyes never leaving the unique skyline, before stopping suddenly as she was met with the most perfect view. She stood on her tip toes, her arms leaning into the bridge's railing that she was currently standing on, and absorbed the sight.

People in long colorful robes fluttered by her, and boys too, with simple Yevon training uniforms and practice weapons, hurrying to catch their many curfews.

"Wow, if your mouth opened any wider," A painfully familiar voice shrilled behind her, "Then everyone here will know how achingly obvious it is that you're a newbie…"

Yaya…an annoying little girl whose father owned a rival (and slightly more successful) business to Rosette's father. To put it plainly, she was a brat and needed to go away as soon as possible in Rosette's mind. Young Leblanc turned very carefully from the view, putting a lid on her fiery temper, and forced herself to loosen her white knuckles from the decorated railing.

"How nice to see you, Yaya, " Rosette said in a high-pitched and sweet voice, before she flashed the other girl a toothy fake smile, like her mother taught her to do to difficult customers. Then, without looking at it, she mindlessly complimented, "I love your dress."

"Oh, I like yours too," Yaya flashed one back, using the same sugary tone of voice that both knew was only hiding their contempt for the other,"Too bad it's made for Kilika or someplace much warmer. You look like you're freezing! You've never been to Bevelle, have you?"

"Up until last year, Yaya, you were just like me…" Rosette pointed out, her tone deepening defensively. Her smiling china doll act quickly faded and she stood erect in her stunted height, her eyes flashing in a dare to say anything stupid to her face.

Yaya was apparently up to the challenge as she also dropped her act, a wicked white grin spreading over her pearly face, "But, I'm sure I didn't look like a gaping tourist that hasn't seen a proper Temple before."

"Oh, yeah!?" Rosette puffed out her chest and her bottom lip stuck out slightly, "I bet you gaped much more than me!"

"Oh, don't act like you know anything!" Yaya snapped in her strident voice, "You're positively clueless about the ways of Bevelle. It's not like some decadent harbor city!"

"What do you know about Bevelle that I don't?" Rosette shot back.

Yaya lifted her head in a superior way, angling it a bit, and her small mouth twitched into a small, arrogant smirk, "There's a lot more class here. And, the people here are a lot different."

Rosette snorted obscenely, "Like how?"

"Do you have a boyfriend?" Yaya said suddenly, leaning in closer, her dark blue eyes looking like something of a predator as she leered. Rosette couldn't help but lean away from her, feeling uncomfortable, and not understanding what that had to do with anything.

Color rose to her round cheeks, and the smaller girl screwed up her pinkish face, "No...so what?!"

"Well, _I_ do." Yaya drawled happily, her beady eyes closing as she lifted a white hand to her chest as her other hand gestured vaguely towards the Temple District, "And _he's _training to be a Yevon Guard."

"Oh, well," Leblanc stood taller, as uncaring as she could be, though she couldn't and didn't look like she felt that way at all, "What about it?"

"_Soooo-"_The brat smiled an ugly wide smile, "I don't look like a little weirdo all the time. I can actually be natural in any crowd, even in a special place like Bevelle. See, my boyfriend couldn't tell I was from a somewhere less dignified than here."

Rosette's eyebrows sunk toward her eyes, they flashing under the blonde lines. To her, Luca seemed like a pretty 'dignified' place, and couldn't care less if it wasn't, but she didn't like the tone of voice that Yaya used to say it. And the way she looked at her too, as she said it, set her hot blood to boiling. But Yaya just wouldn't end there. Once her mouth got to running, it only took a hard fist to make her stop.

"-And anyways," Yaya continued from a ongoing explanation of some sort about how great she was, "-You couldn't hope to be natural anywhere. You stick out way too much, and you're sassy and loud. You always make that puckered up face, it's unattractive I hope you know, it looks like you've sucked on a lemon, and if that wasn't enough, you say the weirdest things."

"Aw, cram it," Rosette leaned back and flicked a loose wrist through the air towards the taller girl, "Who cares about that stuff anyways? It's a waste of time."_  
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Yaya shook her head, looking like she was pitying her, and tsked, "Ah, Rosie...that's why you're never going to find anyone to love you. You're just so weird."

"Stop calling me weird Yaya."

"Weirdo."

Rosette narrowed her eyes and spat, "Pain in the butt."

"Amateur."

"Creep."

"Freak."

"You better shut up, Yaya, before I do you the favor," Rosette straightened her back and ground her teeth in her mouth. Yaya leaned forward, her light eyes narrowed in an amused way.

"Or what?" Yaya drew out annoyingly, and added with a distinct emphasis, "Butch?"

To finish her statement, Yaya pushed a slender finger into young Leblanc's, at the time, flat as a board chest. Her laugh was at such a high pitch that it instantly made Rosette twitch, and the sound continued as Yaya folded her arms under her firm newly developing breasts.

"I'm warning you," Rosette growled, "You better cut it out or I'll break your mouth and stop that creepy little laugh of yours, you little-"

"Little?" Yaya leaned over the year younger girl, she towering over Rosette by two full heads, "Little what?"

"Little-" Rosette drew out the word, thinking for the most perfect insult, and came up with a wicked grin," Little Malboro-face. You look exactly like them, sound like one too…not to mention the smell…"

Rosette smiled wider, pinched her nose with one hand, scrunched her eyes shut, and waved at the air between her and Yaya with her other hand.

"What?" The bully took a step back, her feathers clearly ruffled.

"Oh, did you not hear me?" Leblanc's bravery started to build, " I said you're a Malboro, or are you too stupid to know what a Malboro is? Can it be that you're a _newbie_ when it comes to fiends? Do you not know the difference between a Sahagin and a Sahagin Chief? Can you name all the flans off the top of your head and can you tell where all the Tonberries' hidey-holes are? Can you say 'Adamantortoise ate all the apples all day ,'ten times fast?"

"No," Yaya grimaced, "Unlike you, I don't just sit around all day and read about nasty monsters and slobbering beasts."

"Well, you should. Doesn't your shop sell items?" Rosette leaned forward and put her hands on her small hips, "What do you think most of those weapons are for? Do you think all those effect reversal items are just for looks?"

"Rosette, we just sell the items people ask for, we don't need to know _all_ the gross things that it will be used on. My dad always says that well mannered and cultured girls don't have to deal with that kind of things. But, obviously _your_ dad wouldn't know. My dad always said your father didn't know much. He's weird, just like you, which explains why your store doesn't do as well as ours. My dad always says that your own characteristics for success is reflected proportionally in the reward you receive. That's why your dad's store is just as crummy as he is."

Rosette dramatically sighed in response, "If you want to stay stupid be my guest, Yaya, but do not make fun of daddy."

"Daddy? Oh, so you're daddy's girl, huh?" Yaya laughed again and leaned back, her arms folding behind her, "It makes sense. You're both freaks."

"Yaya," Rosette took a step forward from the bridge rail calmly, "Did you know a Taouba can use it's Blade Rondo and rip your mouth off faster than a Haunt will cast Doom?"

"What?" Yaya sneered down at the younger girl.

"I told I would break your stupid mouth, didn't I?" Rosette pulled a balled fist back, her other hand reaching high to grip the front of Yaya's dress, "And I mean what I say!"

Her knuckles came in contact with the older girl's chin, knocking her backwards and stumbling a couple of steps into the traffic of the bridge, drawing several more eyes to them that hadn't already been watching their rather loud argument. The smaller child, heedless to the stares and disapproving head-shakes directed towards her, jumped on her downed enemy in a flurry of long, tangled, blonde hair, and started to punch, kick, bite, and claw at everything she could touch on the elder girl.

"Get off!" Yaya screamed and tried to push the other off of her, only to have a mouthful of her hand in the vicious girl's mouth.

"Grrr!" Rosette sounded something closer to an animal than a child, and started to draw blood when a two powerful arms swooped her up into the air with a surprising yank that made her yelp.

"What do you think you're doing child?" Her mother swung her around to face her and roughly dropped her to her feet, " I warn you not to go far, look away for a moment, and then find you gone! And what do I find when, after having a heart attack, I finally see my daughter again? Her fighting like some uneducated hooligan!"

"I'm sorry, Mommy," Rosette raised her puppy dog like eyes to her scolding mother, " But, Yaya-!"

"Oh!" Her mother raised her hands to the side of her head and shook her short spiky yellow locks in an agitated motion, "Not Yaya again! Why can't you get along with that girl anywhere in Spira? Everywhere you go-"

"She makes fun of me and says bad things about us. And I ignored her mommy but then she said-!" Little Leblanc felt tears form up in her eyes as she began to choke on her words that she knew her mother wouldn't hear.

"No!" Her mother said sharply before pointing towards the brat, who was achingly getting back up to her feet. Her mother frowned and demanded, "Apologize to her!"

Young Leblanc instantly opened her mouth to complain but her mother cut swiftly in before a sound could be so much as uttered.

"Rosette, I said apologize!"

"Sorry," Rosette murmured near incoherently, and glared hard at Yaya, making sure that this small defeat did not convey that she would ever give the girl anything when parents' eyes were adverted.

Her mother again picked up her small hand and roughly dragged her away from the mix of curious and prying eyes that followed their flight out of sight. She took a sharp turn, tightly holding onto Rosette's little wrist, and stomped down a short set of stairs that led into a slightly lower area. To the left of them, another set of about four stairs led up into a railed pathway leading off into a side street, and it was here by the decorative railing that marked the way that her mother finally stopped with a huff. She swooped Rosette up into her arms and placed her on the overhanging edge that jutted out from the face of the railing.

"You are way too old for time out!" She shook a disapproving finger at her wide eyed face, "But don't get it into your head that I still won't punish you young lady! If you insist on acting like a child, then you'll sit here and when your time out's over, you'll never come out with your father and me again!"

"MOTHER!" Rosette wailed, "It wasn't-!"

"I don't want to hear it!" She covered her ears to emphasize her point, her eyes closed against a pounding headache as she shook her head. She flashed open her eyes again and continued in her lecturing tones, "No more fighting! Do you hear me? Last time I checked darling, I had a girl not a boy! And it's about time you acted like it!"

"MOTHER!" Little Leblanc cried in a rough, teary voice that would, in most cases, merit some sympathy. This was not one of those cases as her mother blinked and coldly turned away from her.

"NO!" She said as a final verdict, "If you can think of a good apology then I may forgive you, but not until then! And know that your father will most definitely hear of this!"

Then, her mother completely left her and Rosette was stuck, frozen under punishment, to the uncomfortable concrete ledge. Sticking out her bottom lip further in a definite pout, she curled her legs in front of her body and began to cry and sniffle into her worn out pants. She cried until the tears ran down her rosy cheeks, sticking the stray blonde hairs to her puffy face, and making her feel like a giant mess even though she stopped caring.

It was all so unfair.

Above on the bridge, Rosette saw Yaya and her father walk off, in a normal fashion that burned Leblanc in a way that felt like complete injustice.

"Hey, you."

A voice said, and she stifled a gasp as she whirled her head around to face the owner of the lighthearted medium tones.

He towered over her, his shadow stretched over the railing her back was pressed against and draped over the concrete below, mingling with her much smaller one. This boy was dressed in a simple, faded green, Asian-style shirt, leather shoulder pads, baggy green-gray pants, and scratched arm bands that covered his entire forearms and stopped at his wrist, but had another smaller plate attached to it by wire that protected the top of his gloved hands, a pale red cord lopped around his middle finger to keep the little plates in place.

But, before that, Little Leblanc noticed the waterfall of smooth black hair that fell into his face and practically covered his left eye, the rest swept up into a slim and long ponytail that fell from the top of the back of his head and amazingly (considering he was most definitely a boy by his lower voice) nearly reached his lower back.

Rosette blinked at him, before hurriedly and roughly wiping at her reddish face. When she lifted her eyes, he was still there, and she simply stared as he directed his squinted eyes up and away from her, towards the direction her mother had just fumingly trotted away.

"I saw the whole thing," He said with his shapely lips pulled indifferently into a straight line, "I hardly think that was fair of your mother to assume that you didn't have a good reason for attacking that 'Malboro'."

His face cracked into a a toothy smirk and a deep in his throat chuckle followed it. His arms were folded on the railing, allowing his tall and lean body to bend easily in his middle and rest all of his weight against it. He looked down, his hair moving away from his bent eyes, and he snorted a little through his nose.

"What?" He asked, blinking a couple of times at her staring brown eyes, and angling his chin off from the center, "Never seen a Bevelle trainee before?"

She shook her head, flushing slightly. Strands from his ponytail fell over his shoulder, which was leaning out into the air over her as he drew somewhat closer to look at her, and slipped down to barely touch her upturned face with feathery ends as they were blown by the slight breeze. She blinked, somewhat astonished at his sudden appearance and his friendliness towards her. Especially since she had been feeling so awful and he appeared out of nowhere, this boy she's never seen before. She could hardly believe he was real. He, however, didn't seem to share the same amazement as she.

"Nothing to worry about," He said dismissively when he noticed her blush, and shrugged his wide and sharp shoulders, "It's nothing to be proud of, really. Just a job. Well, not even that since we're just training for our future jobs. See? Nothing impressive."

"I know that." Rosette said a little tightly, remembering what Yaya said to her earlier, about her lack of general knowledge, her inability to blend in anywhere, and her own lack of a Yevon trainee boyfriend whatever. Rosette still stared at him, his expression somewhat curious as he slanted a thin black brow at her, and she started establishing the ground that she was not dumb and ignorant.

"You're training to be a solider," She said sharply and huffed with a smooth rising of her chin to lift her nose in the air, her large eyes closing with the motion, "Nothing that any boy couldn't do whenever they felt like it!"

"Ouch," He winced jokingly, "That actually stung quite a bit. I like to think my 'job' a little more important than that!"

Flipping her knotted hair over her shoulder, she stuck her chin far in the air and turned away from him, "Yeah right! Nothing 'special' about it. So what if Yaya has got a boyfriend in Yevon?" She grumbled resentfully, mostly to herself, "Who cares? Almost everyone ends up like that nowadays!"

"Oooh, I see." He drawled with a tiny curl in his shapely lips, his small eyes never leaving the top of her golden head, "Is that what's bothering you?"

Instead of an answer, she offered him a pouty peek from the corner of her eye, her cheeks puffed and her little mouth puckered up. He smiled into the look, and cocked his head as he earned her attention, "Well, that won't do at all!" He announced, his grin widening again, "To think a pretty little girl like you would be worried about boyfriends at such a young age-"

"Hey!" She turned fully to face him again and said rather defensively, "I'm ELEVEN, thank-you-very-much!

"Oh, my sincerest apologies," He said smoothly through the more polite curve of a forcefully subdued smile, "I guess I should've known, what with the way you took down that girl earlier. It was a very...entertaining performance if you don't mind me saying. I would love to see an encore anytime its offered in the future."

Rosette continued to stare at him full in the face, her brows knitted and pulled down into her eyes, her mouth pursed, and her cheeks still slightly puffing out with the tearful redness fading from them. Rather bluntly, he asked, "Are you feeling better now, Bruiser?"

"I don't know what you mean," She answered rather haughtily, her head turning away from him as she repeated the actions of ignoring him and crossed her arms over her bony legs. Then, as an afterthought, she saw fit to inform him, "I don't care about Yevon trainees anyhow. Nothing Yaya said about Bevelle is true. It didn't bother me at all!"

"Oh my," He feigned something that looked hurt, but the little smile on his lips gave him away. He put a hand to his chest, his eyes locked on the back of her head as he said, "It's a shame you don't like Yevon trainees just from what that stupid girl said. I mean, we're not all that bad, and Bevelle is a pretty alright place, especially if you see it through more suitable eyes than some nit-wit, wouldn't you say? You seemed to be admiring the city before that spoiled girl showed up."

Rosette couldn't help but smile a little at the insults he had thrown to the wind, hopefully to somehow carry to Yaya. Rosette snorted a bit and tried to cover the sound by hiding her face in her lifted knees.

The boy bared his teeth in another smirk, "And I'm not like that boy she's dating. I feel awfully sorry for that one, really, but I don't date little brats."

Rosette finally turned to look at him in a completely friendly manner, her face glowing brightly with hidden mirth. She opened her small rosy lips to say something but something caught the boy's slanted eyes and they darted off to look somewhere ahead of them for several full moments. Rosette was about to ask what he was doing when he answered in a slightly amused and hushed murmur.

"Don't look now, Bruiser, but here comes Malboro."

She instantly followed his line of vision and clearly saw that Yaya was heading in their direction, as sure as anything, and with a pale, skinny rail of a boy trailing after her faithfully too.

"Hello," Yaya said sweetly, addressing the both of them pretentiously, with only a somewhat thoughtful glance at the boy that Rosette had been talking to all this time.

"Mm," The boy hummed and dipped his head at the girl before lazily blinking at the freckly boy with her. Rosette said nothing at all to her, and opted for glaring holes through her large forehead instead.

Yaya lifted her head up from the collar of her dress and gestured to the kid behind her, saying rather loudly and in her high-pitched voice,"Rose-chan this is here is Groto."

"Hey Groto," The boy drew out in a low tone, smiling coyly at the snowy faced child that twitched and opened one green eye a little bigger than the other as he lifted a dark red brow. The long haired boy then unexpectedly lowered his hand and plopped it comfortably on Leblanc's, Rosette's, head when he caught another drawn glance from the taller girl.

Rosette herself flinched at the sudden gesture of friendliness, but at the moment was seething with so much hate that she couldn't focus for too long on that. Yaya flinched too, something Rosette couldn't quite understand what for, but she composed herself quick enough and cleared her throat with tiny little 'ahem's'.

"Groto, Rosie," Yaya smiled obnoxiously, moving a palm from the space in front of the uniformed boy, dressed in the exact same manner as the boy standing at the rail, before hovering the appendage in front of Rosette. Yaya wasted no time in lowering it back to her side though, before the other girl would bite it, as it appeared she just might with her glowering puckered expression.

Yaya put a bent arm on the boy's shoulder, her other hand touching his arm,"Rosie, Groto's the boy I was telling you about."

"Uhm, Hey Rosie…" Groto held out a white, skinny hand for young Leblanc to shake, a gesture that truly wasn't needed in a conversation between children, and usually he wouldn't do, but the fanciness of his prissy girlfriend made his nervous brain deem it necessary. His hand was twitching, and all Rosette could do was stare at it shaking in the air.

"Rosette." Little Leblanc stared unmoving at the hand extended towards her and didn't know what to do with it, "My name is Rosette…"

"You're supposed to shake his hand, Rosie!" Yaya said rather stuffily, and gestured for her to take it, "Come on!"

The boy on the railing leaned his head back a little on his neck, his brow slanted again over his squinted eye.

"Um…" Rosette still didn't move, it was all so strange and different. Was there a wrong way of doing this? She shook hands before, but the boy looked uncomfortable, and really sweaty (so she was rather hesitant to touch him anyways) and she had already waited so long to take the hand that it would be awkward to move now.

"Here!" That medium toned voice once again drawled lazily over her head, making her jump a little and peer up at him. He smirked quickly and said, "I'll show you a good way of doing it."

A distinct slap echoed in the alley following after the strange boy smacked his hand firmly (and surely painfully) into Groto's ghost-white palm. A wrist jarring shake was applied next, and Groto dropped his hand to his side immediately after the long haired boy released him. Yaya's twitchy boyfriend obviously did not want to shake anymore hands that day. And he seemed to have little twinges of pain that shot up his arm from the unnecessary force used in the handshake by the little extra twitching in his arm. An unsure and flinching smile spread onto the boy's face and a little voice said familiarly…

"…Hey, Sano...That kind of hurt."

Yaya's light eyes shot to the other boy's face at her boyfriend's recognition, finally studying it fully as she wasn't able to do in her glances so far. To Rosette's surprise, Yaya's face revealed that she obviously, at least to Rosette's eyes, grew an 'interest' in the boy.

"So..." The strange boy, Sano, let his little eyes roll in his head until something was apparently recalled, "Yaya..." He smiled and let his eyes flick down to Rosette's curiously watching face, which was turning from Yaya back to the strange boy as the conversation continued. "My lil' friend here tells me about how it's apparently so great to have a Bevellian Yevonite boyfriend or whatever, and that everyone 'special' has one."

"Uh?" Yaya blinked then looked from Sano to Rosette, then back to Sano. Rosette was just as much of a loss at where this was going as the older girl, but she managed to not flinch again as the boy replaced the hand he had removed from her head earlier and smoothed down the crazy strands on her scalp.

"Good thing," He winked with a smirk at her and Rosette couldn't help but smile back finally as she caught what he was doing with his final words, "That she and I hooked up, huh?"

"Yeah," Young Leblanc gladly played along, showing off a boy she barely knew, but knew that Yaya drooled over. She easily slipped into the role, joyfully watching Yaya's face crack open into shock and then into green envy.

"We wouldn't want one _very_ 'special' girl left out, will we?" Sano tussled her yellow strands and made the most nicest faces at her, before a mask fell into place over his features, an indifferent and slightly bored expression dominating his face suddenly as he casually addressed the ghost of a boy, "So, Groto, if I recall, don't you have to report to Captain Hoto a little early today? For Artillery training?"

Groto's bleached skin turned even more light when he had a realization of some sort that followed Sano's questions. He turned to Yaya and whispered in a quick, high-pitched voice, " Y-Y-yaya… I need t-to go, now! It was nice seeing you and everything, b-but I gotta run now!"

"Buh-bye," Sano said easily, and waved a loose wrist goodbye as the pale boy dashed away before his girlfriend could reply back.

"Bye," Rosette mouthed toward Yaya as she stood dumbfounded and open mouthed.

Yaya made a squeaky noise, growled low in her throat, and whirled around to stomp away, fuming from the ears in embarrassment and jealously and red as a ripe tomato. As soon as she had stormed away out of earshot, Leblanc exclaimed happily.

"That was great, Sano!" Leblanc repeated his name as she heard it from Groto and gratefully dipped her head a little as Sano lifted his palm clear from her head.

"Indeed, your performance was magnificent as well, Little Miss Rosette," Sano took a step back from the railing and made a flourishing bow, a hand with lax fingers gesturing vaguely towards her as the boy closed his eyes and promptly exposed the top of his long black hair to her in his low dip. It lasted one full second before he briskly lifted his head and said rather abruptly with a snap of his fingers curling back towards his palm, "And now this brave hero must leave the stage."

"What?! Why?" Rosette rose a little in her spot and pouted, "I wanted to talk to you more. I should thank you."

"Your gratitude is appreciated, but you see," He said in an outward breath before he lifted his eyes from looking down at her towards the set of stairs that led back up to the bridge and square that people bustled in, "A particular woman is heading this way now, ready to hear your apology, and I don't think you'd want me here. It might prove difficult to explain my odd presence and convince your mother of the fact that this was a real 'time out' for you."

He added another wink to the end of his words but young Leblanc didn't see it as she was moving her head this way and that, trying to get the full view of the walkway and stairs. She could see most of it, at least she was sure she did, and she said as she searched," I don't see my mother."

"Well, that doesn't mean she's not coming anyways." Sano smiled nervously, if not plain uneasily, and made a small and quick bow again, finishing with a breathless line, "Pleasure performing with you."

"Wait!" Rosette loudly called to him as he ran back down the side street connected to the railed walkway. He stopped in his tracks, looking over his shoulder with a raised brow. She let out a breath through her nose, allowing her shoulders fall, relieved that he had stopped, and asked a little quieter, "Will I see you again?"

"After today, missing curfew for a Herculean actress? I hardly think I'd get away with it." Sano looked in the direction of the Temple, where nearby is where he should've been this entire time.

"Well, good-bye then," She said sadly, and clearly pouted as she waved slowly to him.

He dipped his head and smiled, looking up through the top of his eyelids back towards her, "You should try cutting your hair like your mother's…"

"Hmm?" Young Leblanc blew more wild blonde strands out of her face, "Why for?"

"Besides the fact I like girls with short hair," Sano smiled again, for the last time, "It would be a wonderful 'apology' for that squishy little Malboro, don't you think? And your mother seems to be the type to like that."

And with that, he turned and was gone.

Her mother had been wanting to cut her 'rat's nest' for years, and Yaya would always enjoy taking something, no matter what it was, away from her, knowing that it was because of her that it was gone. It would serve as a well enough 'punishment' and 'apology', Rosette agreed and decided to it carry out. Though the reason she decided to cut her hair into short yellow spikes was not so much to appease her mother's rage, but for something else completely.

The more softly spoken words before his final smile towards her heavily laying in her fluttering chest.

Leblanc found herself looking at he Goons smiling and sighing dumbly at her from the little semi-circle they had formed around her as she began the story. She appeared rather calm herself, and finished with an airy, "And I still cut my hair short, as you can see loves. It makes things easier to deal with nowadays, of course, but I was so used to the cut before I started working in the business anyways since I've had it for so long." Leblanc then dreamily chuckled, "Funny thing, loves. After all these years, I suppose I still cut my hair for some long haired boy that would like it that way."

And from that day forward, Rosette, Leblanc, always liked long hair, even after the boy slipped away from her daily thoughts, wondering, waiting, and never seeing him again.

* * *

><p><strong>HA! DONE! Now, to explain something….<strong>

**Yaya was a made up character, so was Groto, Captain Hoto, and Leblanc's mother and father.**

**Rosette, as stated earlier, was 'stolen' from Devil Mushroom's story "Rosette" (You all should read) and I picked the name Sano from Logos's (if you couldn't tell) real name. I'm making a different fan fiction that will explain why Logos and Ormi (he's included too) will change their names. **

**I find the concept of Logos being a bit of a smart aXX as a kid funny. It will be taught out of him, of course (by Yevon) but I thought that all boys, especially teenagers, act like that. At least when they're not around adults. He still has the scowling Logos in there mind you, in fact I was going to have a scowling boy watching the entire exchange between Yaya and Rosette, but threw it out as it was awkward and really unnecessary in te whole scheme of things. (I suppose it's still there though, inbetween-like) If you think he's smiling an unusual amount, that's because he is acting a bit differently even for himself. It's not so much OOC, I think, than that he is just happy that he's actually found something mildly amusing and put a temporary end to his boredom. Worthy entertainment and good distraction, in fact. **

**By the way, he's about thirteen in this story and Braska's Calm had just started. If you didn't catch it, Leblanc's eleven, and Yaya's a year older.**

**I wonder if I should start a series of Young Leblanc like I will with Young Logos and Ormi? Hmm, something to think about...  
><strong>

**Anyways...REVIEW! :D**


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